Religion / From Heart to Heart: People of different faiths have words to share

By Ginny Nilsen

WELCOME to the first edition of a new column to appear on The Register-Guard's religion page.

Through a rotation of local columnists, "From Heart to Heart" will offer an understanding of the faith traditions involved in the activities of Two Rivers Interfaith Ministries.

Each week, members of different religious groups will introduce themselves and explain their practices, their special commemorations, their beliefs and values, and why they think their faith contributes in cons44tructive ways to the community and world.

Topics such as spiritual understanding, identity, relationships, reality and purpose will weave through the articles. It is the interfaith group's hope that these expressions of spirituality will help support those who are striving to enrich and strengthen their own lives and relationships, and add perspective on daily events.

Two Rivers Interfaith Ministries, or TRIM, has grown over the years with far-reaching opportunities for interfaith understanding and dialogue. Its monthly brown-bag lunch meetings serve as the hub of the wheel, with a broad array of activities and topics to educate and inspire. One spoke of this wheel is the interfaith prayer and reflection service held on the 11th of each month at First Christian Church, where eight or more faith traditions contribute to each service.

Other spokes include monthly interfaith dialogue groups, a Faith in Action committee for social justice, and now this column.

Writers taking part in this project will come from a variety of Christian denominations, as well as Buddhist, Hindu, Baha'i, Brahma Kumaris, Sufi, Sikh Dharma, Islamic, Jewish, Native American, Unitarian-Universalist and metaphysical traditions.

It is the hope of its writers that this column will speak to the hearts of many readers on their own spiritual path.

Any ministries wishing to participate in this writing endeavor are welcome to contact TRIM. People of all faiths are invited to attend TRIM lunch meetings, interfaith dialogue or the monthly prayer and reflection services.

We trust this new column will provide education, inspiration and opportunities for building an even more open, safe, cooperative and healthy community.

Ginny Nilsen serves on the steering committee of Two Rivers Interfaith Ministries. "From Heart to Heart" is coordinated by TRIM, a network of faith communities in the Eugene-Springfield area. For more information, call 344-5693.

Following is the URL to the original story. The site may have removed or archived this story. URL: http://www.registerguard.com/news/2003/02/22/c17.rel.trimintro.0222.html